WILL DAYTONA SOON BE JUST A MEMORY?

There it is. Right on a world map drawn by the National Geographic Society. Daytona Beach. Famous enough to share map space with Paris, London, Moscow, New York and Tokyo.

No one believes that Daytona Beach would have made the global map if it were called Holly Beach or Ponce Orange. It was the name Daytona Beach, known as the "world's most famous beach," that got it on the National Geographic map.

Now there is a chance that name may be purged from all maps and lost to history. The potential consolidation of Daytona Beach with its six neighbors -- Daytona Beach Shores, Holly Hill, Ormond Beach, Port Orange, South Daytona and Ponce Inlet -- and much of unincorporated Volusia County in the immediate Halifax area poses the problem of choosing a new name.

Those opposed to consolidation don't think it would be right if the new city is named Daytona Beach. Those who favor merger and most of those in the business and tourism communities don't believe the area could afford to be named anything else.

"If you don't call it Daytona Beach, then what would you call it? I haven't heard a really good second choice," said Lockwood Burt, chairman of a study group that 11 months ago recommended consolidation. "The people who don't like Daytona Beach will have to come up with an alternative."

Daytona Beach was named in honor of Mathias Day who bought a land grant in 1870 called Orange Grove, which was incorporated as the city of Daytona on July 26, 1876. A marker about Day, who was born and died in Mansfield, Ohio, says he was a newspaperman, businessman, inventor of an arc light and a "close friend of Abraham Lincoln."

A municipal charter for the proposed new city, adopted by the state Legislature in May and due to become law at midnight Tuesday subject to approval by area voters on Oct. 15, leaves the task of selecting a new name to a transitional government that would prepare the city for its first day of operation on Oct. 1, 1986.

Members of that 15-person board would select between two and five names and present them to the voters May 6, 1986, the same day voters cast ballots for a mayor and 12 council representatives.

Tourism officials already are working hard to make it clear that losing the name Daytona Beach could be disastrous to the area's claim as a major tourist destination. Gary Brown, president of the Hotel/Motel Association of the Daytona Resort Area, said the organization already has asked the charter drafters to retain the words "Daytona" and "Beach."

"We feel those are very important tourist-drawing words," Brown said. "If we said come to Sanibel-by-the-Sea, people would say 'where the heck is that.' "

Fred Leonhardt, president of The Chamber, Daytona Beach/Halifax Area, a new name itself, said the name Daytona Beach is important because "millions and millions of dollars" have been spent promoting it over several decades.

Even people strongly opposed to consolidation agree the new city's name should be Daytona Beach. "It appears to me that it would be a waste to lose the name. This is internationally known," Ormond Beach Mayor Nick Fortunato said.

However, Fortunato and other consolidation opponents couch comments by saying they don't believe their cities ever will become part of the new city and, therefore, don't care what residents of that city eventually call it.

But what if there is a new city? What should it be called? Jokes abound about taking "Daytona" from Daytona Beach and "Beach" from Ormond Beach, then calling the new city Daytona Beach. Or naming it Atlanta to improve air service to troubled Daytona Beach Regional Airport.

Realistically, however, the name could be anything. Daytona Beach may be the favorite, but it could be some variation.

Noting that there is a New Smyrna Beach nearby, Jon Kaney, possibly the most influential supporter of consolidation, said that "someday" there could be a city called New Daytona Beach. "Frankly, that one seems to appeal to a lot of people."

A name change rejecting Daytona altogether could cause trouble in the Daytona Beach area. The telephone book lists 218 businesses, agencies and organizations using Daytona or Daytona Beach in their legal names. Among them are the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Daytona Mall and Daytona Beach Community College.

Marilyn Humbert, Daytona Mall manager, and Norm James, owner of Daytona Bolt and Nut Co., said they don't expect to rename their businesses if the city's name is changed. Neither does Lockwood Burt, of Ormond Re-Group, an insurance-related business in Ormond Beach. He says the identity of his company is invested in its name.

Some businesses such as the Daytona Hilton in Daytona Beach Shores, Daytona Oil in Holly Hill and Daytona Beach Outlet Mall in South Daytona aren't even in Daytona Beach. But the city's most important business is -- Daytona International Speedway.

Without the speedway, possibly the most well-known track in racing, the city of Daytona Beach might be as anonymous as Fernandina Beach. Fred Seely, public relations director, suggested that without the speedway built by Bill France, Daytona Beach might well be called "Bunnell South."

"You go anywhere in the world and say 'Daytona' and they'll say 'racing,' " Seely said. An appropriate name for a new city would be Speedway or France, he said with a touch of humor.

In 1982, Chrysler Corp. honored the speedway and the city when it introduced its Dodge Daytona. The unveiling took place on the beach in Ponce Inlet, prompting some people to say tongue-in-cheek that the car should have been called the Dodge Ponce. Chrysler declined the honor.